Velo Distractions

The $25 DIY Bike Stand constructed last month has proven to be a very worthwhile project. I love this thing, since building it I am constantly finding excuses to use it. Be it periodic inspections, maintenance, cleaning, or just to stare at the bike. While functional, the PVC stand is still not perfect. Drawing from a little hands on time and the lessons learned from the original build, I worked out some improvements.

The threaded union was added to allow the clamp to rotate into multiple positions. Unfortunately, no matter how much the union was tightened, it did not have enough friction to prevent rotation of the clamp on a suspended bike. The union consists of two pieces of PVC pipe that screw together with an o-ring in between them. The O-ring is designed to form a seal , and limit the rotation between the two pipes in the joint. While it is sufficient for plumbing, it is by no means adequate for holding a bike.

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The Giant OCR2 is a very versatile bike, good for commuting, centuries, brevets, and whatever else makes sense at the moment. After putting on a new Brooks saddle and saddlebag, I became apprehensive about riding in the rain and on wet roads. Water and grime where getting thrown all over the brand new saddle and bag off of the back tire. Water is no friend to Brooks saddle, staying wet for too long will ruin it.

This article is an attempt to outfit the OCR2 with a full set of fenders. The installation is surprisingly easy, however when I researched the issue, there was a lot of conflicting opinions if this was even possible with Giant OCR bikes. The only way to truly know would be to try it myself. Below is a high level overview of how to do it, and yes it can be done very easily!

I have not been a fan of fenders, I always thought they made the bike look like a tank, and me a conservative old fart. This year I committed to the UMCA Year Rounder Challenge, plus another 5 brevets and possibly RAIN. In order to accomplish these rides, some wet weather riding will be on tap. In light of this, common sense prevailed and fenders got a closer look.

Planet Bike makes a set of Hardcore Road fenders that are fairly economical, and versatile, see below for picture and link. SKS also makes some nice fender sets, but I chose the PB ones on the grounds of price, availability, color match to the bike.

http://ecom1.planetbike.com/7008.html

“Clip-on” fenders are fairly popular, but after trying a couple of pair, I found them to be inadequate in a number of situations. The full fenders had a better protection area and where better at keeping water and grime off of my feet and backside. They also looked more aesthetically pleasing, ( I never thought I would hear myself say that…)

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This is a simple and cheap bike repair stand that can work just about anywhere. I got the original idea from the Instructables website. The complete build instructions, plus user discussion can be found here. I chose to build a stand as opposed to buying one because my cash was short from a recent shopping spree. (Brooks B-17, Carradice Barley, Minoura Swing Bar, 2 Lights). The plan is to use this for a while and purchase full size version later as cash comes available.

Picture of the completed stand from the left side.

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